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Longhurst

Businessman and managing partner of the Ring in San Francisco, California,[1] in 1871. (December 9, 1825 – March 26, 1898)[2]

Longhurst first made his money as a forty-niner during the California Gold Rush and subsequently entered into business in the fertile economic environment of San Francisco.[3] There, he met other entrepreneurs — Campbell, Willimen and Merchison — and developed an alliance with them in a more unusual form of prospecting: that of buying abandoned shipwrecks at auction and salvaging their lost cargos.[1]

By late 1871,[2] Longhurst and his partners had become known as the Ring, their wealth and reputation so profound in auctioning circles that few dared bid against them.[1]

In November of 1871,[2] Bret Maverick visited San Francisco[1] for the first time.[2] There, he learned of the Ring and, with the help of Brother Bart, hoped to earn their trust to buy in. Bret sent for Bart to join him but, at the end of a four-day poker game at the Hotel Bossert in December, Bret ahd managed on his own to win a hand against Longhurst, the stakes having been agreed upon as Bret's ticket into the Ring.[1]

After welcoming Bret into the Ring, Longhurst informed him of the auction of the Flying Scud the next morning, a ship wrecked at Midway Island that the Ring was not especially interested in. But Bret accepted it as a small beginning with his new partnership. Longhurst met Bret and Bart at the auction house where Bret opened the bidding of the Flying Scud for $100. He and Longhurst made a show of raising the bid to $300, allowing it to appear Bret had won the wreck. But Thomas Bellairs topped Bret's bid at $350. When Bellairs raised the bid to $650, Longhurst called a small conference to discuss the unexpected intrusion and to tell Bret that — to show his good faith and to teach Bellairs a lesson — the Ring would back him up to $5,000. When Bellairs topped the bid to $5,500, Longhurst told Bret the Ring would go no further and if he wished to continue, it was at his own expense. Bart encouraged Bret to continue, promised to back him with all the money he had with him, while Longhurst and the Ring stepped out of the challenge.[1]

See: The Wrecker